By: Melissa Girimonte
A SMALLVILLE Supergirl Spin-off! Michael Rosenbaum’s dream guest star! Lex with Hair! Special correspondent to theTVaddict.com Melissa Girimonte was at this weekend’s Fan Expo 2008 in Toronto Canada and has all the details.
SMALLVILLE fans were treated to a very special Q&A with Michael Rosenbaum and Laura Vandervoort at FanExpo 2008 in Toronto. The lineup began early and snaked around the convention floor as the crowd waited to see Lex Luthor and Supergirl, characters not returning for the series’ eighth season – or so we thought until this panel. From the moment the handsome Rosenbaum, with a full head of hair, and the stunning Vandervoort, looking like a young Charlize Theron, danced on stage, you could tell it was going to be a light, humor-laced Q&A.
Rosenbaum started things off by complimenting hometown girl Vandervoort’s parents, seated in the front row. He mentioned that their daughter worked hard on SMALLVILLE, and looked better than him. He and Vandervoort constantly joked around between questions, sharing stories of pranks on set that he orchestrated. Vandervoort did say that his humor helped with her nervousness in her first major role, although he’d often distract her from her lines and mess up saying her last name.
Since its start, SMALLVILLE has featured guest appearances by actors from the Superman film franchise, including Margot Kidder, Helen Slater and the late Christopher Reeve. Rosenbaum shared that he would have liked to see Gene Hackman, something that he insisted would probably never happen. Rosenbaum emphasized this point with his impression of Hackman on the phone with his agent refusing to do the show.
Vandervoort, who didn’t think she’d get the role of Supergirl when she auditioned against a number of actresses with more extensive credits, mused that her role on SMALLVILLE was originally intended to lead to her own spin off series, which didn’t work out. She did reveal a major tidbit of news, though – she will be back for one episode in Season Eight to tie up her storyline. She shared that one of the highlights of being on SMALLVILLE was working with James Marsters. She grew up watching Buffy, and was a big fan, to the point of writing Joss Whedon when she was a kid and asking if she could be on the show. Years later, Vandervoort had the chance to audition for Whedon, who remembered her letter.
Everyone was curious to know what is next for both actors, now that SMALLVILLE is behind them. Rosenbaum is presently in negotiations for a film role, but mentioned that he’d love to star in his own comedy series, something along the lines of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. Also, there’s still a chance that his script, WELCOME TO PARADISE, based on his childhood in the 80s, could still be made into a series; it was picked up by Fox back in 2005. Vandervoort is currently working on INTO THE BLUE 2, followed by an appearance on the small screen in a Movie of the Week. 
Melissa is a Toronto-based TV blogger and music journalist. A TV fan since birth, it was only in recent years that she discovered her love for writing about what she was watching. After contributing to several online and print magazines as a freelance writer, she started her own TV blog, The Televixen, in 2008. She’s also founder and editor of Toonage.ca, an online music magazine.